APPENDIX 12: GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS FOR CHOSEN JOURNAL (OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE)
Authors
Occupational and Environmental Medicine is an international peer reviewed journal covering current developments in occupational and environmental health worldwide. Occupational and Environmental Medicine publishes high-quality research relating to the full range of chemical, physical, ergonomic, biological and psychosocial hazards in the workplace and to environmental contaminants and their health effects. The journal welcomes research aimed at improving the evidence-based policy and practice of occupational and environmental research; including the development and application of novel biological and statistical techniques in addition to evaluation of interventions in controlling occupational and environmental risks.
Editorial policy
Occupational and Environmental Medicine adheres to the highest standards concerning its editorial policies on publication ethics, scientific misconduct, consent and peer review criteria. To view all BMJ Journal policies please refer to the BMJ Author Hub policies page.
Articles are published under an exclusive licence (or non-exclusive licence for UK Crown and US Federal Government employees) and authors retain copyright. Articles can also be published under a Creative Commons licence to facilitate reuse of the content; please refer to the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Copyright Author Licence Statement.
Presentation of statistical data
We strongly encourage authors to observe the following guidelines:
• Only essential tables and graphs should be included. Large tables should be kept to a
minimum.
• Epidemiological measures of association (e.g. ratios or differences of rates, risks,
odds, or prevalences) are preferred for contrasts of disease occurrence.
• Confidence intervals should be reported for measures of association.
• P-values may be reported if necessary for tests such as trend tests or non-parametric
tests etc but should be given as quantitative values e.g. p=0.032 rather than relative to a cut point e.g. p<0.05.
• Generally numerical findings should not be reported to more than 1 or 2 decimal
places.
• The approach to carrying out any statistical modelling should be described, including
strategies for selection of explanatory variables and goodness of fit. The models presented in the paper should be clearly described and justified, with appropriate references given.
• Results from observational studies (cohort, case-control, or cross-sectional designs)
should be reported following the guidelines in the STROBE statement, results of randomised trials should be reported following the CONSORT guidelines, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses should follow the PRISMA guidelines.
Article publishing charges
During submission, authors can choose to have their article published open access for 1950 GBP (exclusive of VAT for UK and EU authors). Authors can also choose to publish their
article in colour for the print edition – instead of the default option of black and white – for 250 GBP. There are no submission, page or online-only colour figure charges.
For more information on open access, funder compliance and institutional programmes please refer to the BMJ Author Hub open access page.
Submission guidelines
Please review the below article type specifications including the required article lengths, illustrations, table limits and reference counts. The word count excludes the title page, abstract, tables, acknowledgements, contributions and references. Manuscripts should be as succinct as possible.
For further support when making your submission please refer to the resources available on the BMJ Author Hub. Here you can also find general formatting guidelines across BMJ and a formatting checklist.
Original research
Authors should also provide key messages with original research submissions under the following headings:
1. What is already known about this subject? 2. What are the new findings?
3. How might this impact on policy or clinical practice in the foreseeable future?
Word count: up to 3,500
Tables/Illustrations: up to 5 References: up to 40
Authorship
The ICMJE Recommendations state that authorship credit requires:
Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data.
Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
Final approval of the version published.
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
All of these conditions must be met. Each author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have
confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors. Any individuals listed as co-authors on a manuscript will receive email confirmation of the manuscript submission.
Participation solely in the acquisition of funding, the collection of data or general supervision of the research group does not justify authorship. We wish authors to assure us that all
authors included on a paper fulfil the criteria of authorship. Conversely we also ask for assurance that there is no one else who fulfils the criteria that has been excluded as an author.
Acknowledging contributors
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an
Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance or a department chair who provided only general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged. Please ensure that anyone acknowledged has granted permission to be listed.
Groups of persons who have contributed materially to the paper but whose contributions do not justify authorship may be listed as Collaborators, and their contribution should be described clearly in the contributorship statement – for example, “served as scientific advisors”, “critically reviewed the study proposal”, “collected data” or “ provided and cared for study patients”.
As readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions, all persons must give written permission to be acknowledged in the manuscript.
Group authorship
If there is a very large number of authors we may ask for confirmation that everyone listed met the ICMJE criteria for authorship. If they did, we may then suggest that the authors form a group whose name will appear in the article byline. If the author list includes a group name, MEDLINE will list the names of individual group members who are authors or collaborators (sometimes called non-author contributors) if there is a note associated with the byline clearly stating that the individual names are elsewhere in the paper and whether those names are authors or collaborators.
Contributorship statement
A contributorship statement is required for every manuscript submitted and should outline who has contributed what to the planning, conduct, and reporting of the work described in the article. This should include both authors and contributors.
Joint first authorship
Joint first authors can be indicated by the inclusion of the statement ‘X and X contributed equally to this paper’ in the author details section of the manuscript. Further information can be provided in the contributorship statement if necessary.
Change of affiliation
If an author’s affiliation has changed during the course of the work, the author may either list the affiliation at the time that the research (or most significant portion of the research) was conducted, or their current affiliation, or both. For clarity, the change of affiliation can be explained in an acknowledgements section.
Alteration to authorship
Any change in authors after initial submission must be approved by all authors. This applies to additions, deletions, a change of order to the authors’ names or a change to the attribution of contributions. Any alterations must be explained to the Editor. The Editor may contact any of the authors and/or contributors to ascertain whether they have agreed to any alteration.
Formatting your paper
These are general formatting guidelines across BMJ, please always refer to journal-specific instructions for authors for article type specifications. You can browse the titles on our Journals website.
If you are looking to submit to The BMJ, please visit this section.
To maximise the chances of your paper being accepted, it is a good idea to review and follow the formatting guidelines carefully. If your paper fits the journal’s format and article type specifications, busy editors and reviewers will have a much easier job at considering your paper, and this will save time in the long run.
In order to reduce the chance of your manuscript being returned to you, please use the below checklist and guidelines. If you are unable to find the answer to your question, our editorial team will be on hand to offer assistance throughout the submission process. Contact details for the editorial team are on the journal’s Help page.
Formatting checklist
Author information: Have you provided details of all of your co-authors? Is the information that you have entered into ScholarOne the same as the information on the manuscript title page?
Manuscript length and formatting: Have you provided your abstract in the correct format? Have you supplied any required additional information for your article type, such as key messages? Have you checked that your manuscript doesn’t exceed the requirements for word count, number of tables and/or figures, and number of references?
Tables: Are your tables in an editable format? Have you embedded them into the main word document? Have they been cited in the text? Have you provided appropriate table legends? Have you uploaded any lengthy tables as supplementary files for online publication?
Figures: Have you uploaded figures separately from the text? Have they been supplied in an acceptable format and are they of sufficient quality? Are they suitable for black and white reproduction (unless you intend to pay any required fees for colour printing)? Have the files been labelled appropriately? Have the figures been cited in the text? Have you provided appropriate figure legends?
References: Have all of the references been cited in the text?
Supplementary files: Have you supplied these in an acceptable format? Have they been cited in the main text?
Statements: Have you included the necessary statements relating to contributorship, competing interests and funding, data sharing, patient consent and ethical approval?
Research reporting checklists: Have you either provided the appropriate statement for your study type, or explained why a checklist isn’t required?
Reproducing figures: Have you obtained permission from the copyright holder to re-use any previously published material? Has the source been acknowledged?
Formatting Guidelines
Title page
This is excluded for the journal BMJ Quality and Safety which operates triple-blind peer review.
The title page must contain the following information:
Title of the article.
Full name, postal address, e-mail and telephone number of the corresponding author.
Full name, department, institution, city and country of all co-authors.
Word count, excluding title page, abstract, references, figures and tables.
Keywords
Authors can usually opt to (or are required to) choose keywords relevant to the content of the manuscript during the submission process. This assists in the identification of the most
suitable reviewers for the manuscript. The selected keywords should also be included in the abstract itself.
Manuscript format
The manuscript must be submitted as a Word document (BMJ Case Reports and Veterinary Record Case Reports request that authors submit using a template which should also be in Word format). PDF is not accepted.
The manuscript should be presented in the following order:
Title page.
Abstract, or a summary for case reports (Note: references should not be included in abstracts or summaries).
Main text separated under appropriate headings and subheadings using the following hierarchy: BOLD CAPS, bold lower case, Plain text, Italics.
Tables should be in Word format and placed in the main text where the table is first cited. Tables should also be cited in numerical order.
Acknowledgments, Competing Interests, Funding and all other required statements.
Figures must be uploaded as separate files (view further details under the Figures/illustrations section). All figures must be cited within the main text in numerical order and legends should be provided at the end of the manuscript.
Online Supplementary materials should be uploaded using the File Designation “Supplementary File” on the submission site and cited in the main text.
Please remove any hidden text headers or footers from your file before submission
Style
Acronyms and abbreviations should be used sparingly and fully explained when first used. Abbreviations and symbols must be standard. SI units should be used throughout, except for blood pressure values which should be reported in mm Hg.
Whenever possible, drugs should be given their approved generic name. Where a proprietary (brand) name is used, it should begin with a capital letter.
Figures/illustrations
Images must be uploaded as separate files. All images must be cited within the main text in numerical order and legends must be provided (ideally at the end of the manuscript).
Video: How to improve your graphs and tables
For certain journals, authors of unsolicited manuscripts that wish to publish colour figures in print will be charged a fee to cover the cost of printing. Refer to the specific journal’s
instructions for authors for more information.
Alternatively, authors are encouraged to supply colour illustrations for online publication and black and white versions for print publication. Colour publication online is offered at no charge, but the figure legend must not refer to the use of colours.
Detailed guidance on figure preparation
File types
Figures should be submitted in TIFF or EPS format. JPEG files are acceptable in some cases. A minimum resolution of 300 dpi is required, except for line art which should be 1200 dpi. Histograms should be presented in a simple, two-dimensional format, with no background grid.
For figures consisting of multiple images/parts, please ensure these are submitted as a single composite file for processing. We are unable to accept figures that are submitted as multiple files.
During submission, ensure that the figure files are labelled with the correct File Designation of “Mono Image” for black and white figures and “Colour Image” for colour figures.
Figures are checked using automated quality control and if they are below the minimum standard you will be alerted and asked to resupply them.
Please ensure that any specific patient/hospital details are removed or blacked out (e.g. X- rays, MRI scans, etc). Figures that use a black bar to obscure a patient’s identity are NOT accepted.
Tables
Tables should be in Word format and placed in the main text where the table is first cited. Tables must be cited in the main text in numerical order. Please note that tables embedded as Excel files within the manuscript are NOT accepted. Tables in Excel should be copied and pasted into the manuscript Word file.
Tables should be self-explanatory and the data they contain must not be duplicated in the text or figures. Any tables submitted that are longer/larger than 2 pages will be published as online only supplementary material.
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of cited references and these should be checked before the manuscript is submitted.
Citing in the text
References must be numbered sequentially as they appear in the text. References cited in figures or tables (or in their legends and footnotes) should appear at the end of the reference list to avoid re-numbering if tables and figures are moved around at peer review/proof stage. Reference numbers in the text should be inserted immediately after punctuation (with no word spacing)—for example,[6] not [6].
Where more than one reference is cited, these should be separated by a comma, for
example,[1, 4, 39]. For sequences of consecutive numbers, give the first and last number of the sequence separated by a hyphen, for example,[22-25]. References provided in this format are translated during the production process to superscript type, and act as hyperlinks from the text to the quoted references in electronic forms of the article.
Please note that if references are not cited in order the manuscript may be returned for amendment before it is passed on to the Editor for review.
Preparing the reference list
References must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text.
Only papers published or in press should be included in the reference list. Personal
communications or unpublished data must be cited in parentheses in the text with the name(s) of the source(s) and the year. Authors should request permission from the source to cite unpublished data.
Journals from BMJ use a slightly modified version of Vancouver referencing style (see example below, or download here). Note that The BMJ uses a different style.
BMJ reference style
List the names and initials of all authors if there are 3 or fewer; otherwise list the first 3 and add ‘et al.’ (The exception is the Journal of Medical Genetics, which lists all authors). Use
one space only between words up to the year and then no spaces. The journal title should be in italic and abbreviated according to the style of Medline. If the journal is not listed in Medline then it should be written out in full.
Check journal abbreviations using PubMed
Check citation information using PubMed
Example references
Journal article
13 Koziol-Mclain J, Brand D, Morgan D, et al. Measuring injury risk factors: question reliability in a statewide sample. Inj Prev 2000;6:148–50.
Chapter in book
14 Nagin D. General deterrence: a review of the empirical evidence. In: Blumstein A, Cohen J, Nagin D, eds. Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences 1978:95–139.
Book
15 Howland J. Preventing Automobile Injury: New Findings From Evaluative Research. Dover, MA: Auburn House Publishing Company 1988:163–96.
16 Roxburgh J, Cooke RA, Deverall P, et al. Haemodynamic function of the carbomedics bileaflet prosthesis [abstract]. Br Heart J 1995;73(Suppl 2):P37.
Electronic citations
Websites are referenced with their URL and access date, and as much other information as is available. Access date is important as websites can be updated and URLs change. The “date accessed” can be later than the acceptance date of the paper, and it can be just the month accessed.
Electronic journal articles
Morse SS. Factors in the emergency of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis 1995 Jan- Mar;1(1). www.cdc.gov/nciod/EID/vol1no1/morse.htm (accessed 5 Jun 1998).
Electronic letters
Bloggs J. Title of letter. Journal name Online [eLetter] Date of publication. url eg: Krishnamoorthy KM, Dash PK. Novel approach to transseptal puncture. Heart Online [eLetter] 18 September 2001. http://heart.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/86/5/e11#EL1
Legal material
Toxic substances Contro Act: Hearing on S776 Before the Subcommittee of the Environment of the Senate Comm. on Commerce, 94th Congress 1st September (1975).
Washington v Glucksberg 521 US 702 (1997)
Law references
The two main series of law reports, Weekly Law Reports (WLR) and All England Law Reports (All ER) have three volumes a year.
For example:
Robertson v Post Office [1974] 1 WLR 1176
Ashcroft v Mersey Regional Health Authority [1983] 2 All ER 245
R v Clarence [1868] 22 QBD 23
Wimpey Construction UK Ltd v Poole (1984) Times, 3 May
There are good historical precedents for the use of square and round brackets. Since 1891, round ones have referred to the date of the report, square ones to the date of publication of the report. Apart from not italicising the name of the case, we use the lawyers’ style; be careful